KUALA LUMPUR, Sat: The government has identified 41 abandoned housing
projects involving low- and medium-cost houses to be rehabilitated using
the RM200 million fund announced in Budget 2010.
Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said the
government will study and do due diligence before embarking on reviving
such projects.

“It’s a good start. The government is sympathetic with the plight of the
lower income group,” he said yesterday, after the handing over mock keys
to owners of the Taman Jalil Sutera Sixth Phase housing project.

However, Kong warned that the fund was a “one-off thing” and not meant to
be a permanent scheme for the government to rescue abandoned housing
projects.

Between 2000 and September this year, there are 148 abandoned private
projects involving 49,913 units and 31,824 buyers.

Of these, 87 projects are yet to be rehabilitated with 41 projects
involving low- and medium-cost houses.

Among the states with the highest numbers of abandoned housing projects
are Selangor (40), Johor (33) and Negri Sembilan (20).

So far this year, 12 projects involving 2,170 housing units had been
successfully revived, while another 49 involving 23,196 units were in
various stages of revival.